Stories of
American Heroes -
Brought to you from the "Home of Heroes" - Pueblo, Colorado

Medal of Honor Recipient
Gravesites
In National Cemeteries

The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific
contains memorials to, and gravesites for, a total of 63 Medal of Honor
recipients, including 28 recipients whose bodies were never recovered, and who
are memorialized on the Wall of the Missing.

Often called the
"Punchbowl", the cemetery lies in the middle of Puowaina Crater,
an extinct volcano. Although there are various translations of the
Punchbowl’s Hawaiian name, “Puowaina,” the most common is “Hill
of Sacrifice.” This translation closely relates to the history of the
crater. The first known use was as an altar where Hawaiians offered human
sacrifices to pagan gods and the killed violators of the many taboos. Later,
during the reign of Kamehameha the Great, a battery of two cannons was
mounted at the rim of the crater to salute distinguished arrivals and
signify important occasions. Early in the 1880s, leasehold land on the
slopes of the Punchbowl opened for settlement and in the 1930s, the crater
was used as a rifle range for the Hawaii National Guard. Toward the end of
World War II, tunnels were dug through the rim of the crater for the
placement of shore batteries to guard Honolulu Harbor and the south edge of
Pearl Harbor.

The cemetery grounds consists of 111.5 acres of lush
grass and beautiful tropical vegetation, with more than 45,000 interments.
The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific was officially dedicated on
September 2, 1949, on the fourth anniversary of V-J Day.